Lycodon sp.

Ganesh, S. R., Deuti, Kaushik, Punith, K. G., Achyuthan, N. S., Mallik, Ashok Kumar, Adhikari, Omkar & Vogel, Gernot, 2020, A new species of Lycodon (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Deccan Plateau of India, with notes on the range of Lycodon travancoricus (Beddome, 1870) and a revised key to peninsular Indian forms, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 256) 14 (3), pp. 74-83 : 75-77

Lycodon sp. – Ganesh et al. (2018, 2020b).

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:79E6BFD8-DD3A-4604-ACB2-22BB71B81E76

Holotype: BNHS 3596 , coll. K.G. Punith and Ashok Kumar Mallik in June 2012.

Type locality: Devarayana Durga (13.371°N, 77.210°E; 1,060 m asl) in Tumkur district , Karnataka, India .

Paratype: ZSI 13271 from South Arcot district , Tamil Nadu, India; Mus. Coll. Jaffa (also see Sclater 1891) .

Referred specimens (n = 7): SACON /VR-93, a damaged specimen from Anaikatti, Coimbatore district , Tamil Nadu ; two uncollected roadkill specimens sighted in 2011 in Bodha Malai, Salem-Namakkal districts, Tamil Nadu ; two live individuals sighted in 2016 in Guthirayan hills, Krishnagiri district , Tamil Nadu , one live specimen sighted in Snamavu R. F. Hosur, Tamil Nadu , and one roadkill sighted in 2017 in Tirupati and Horsley Hills, Chittoor district , Andhra Pradesh .

Etymology: Toponym, named after its region of occurrence – the Deccan plateau, a raised table land of late Cretaceous origin, situated between the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats of the Indian peninsula.

Diagnosis: A species of Lycodon inhabiting the Deccan plateau of India, characterized by: small size (total length <470 mm); scales smooth, in 16–17:17:15 rows, without apical pits; usually 9 supralabials (10, in one case); ventrals 181–201 (n = 9) angulate laterally; anal plate undivided; subcaudals 68–78 (84; n = 8), paired; loreal in contact with internasal, separate from eye; nasal not in contact with prefrontal; anterior pair of genials subequal to posterior pair; supraocular usually contacting prefrontal; preocular usually not contacting frontal (preocular separating frontal, prefrontal, and supraocular in one case); dorsum brown in adults and black in juveniles, with white cross bars.

Due to the slender body and smaller head, the new species superficially resembles the genus Dryocalamus , its higher midbody scale rows (17) and lower ventral counts (181–201; avg. 190; n = 9) [vs. rows 13–15; ventrals 200+ in Dryocalamus , see Smith 1943] clearly indicate this species belongs to the genus Lycodon , even if Dryocalamus is regarded as a valid genus.